The Polaris Prize is awarded to the best full-length Canadian album and is judged solely on artistic merit rather than genre or record sales.

The 10 album short list will be published on July 17th ahead of the awards ceremony, the Polaris Gala, on 17 September in Toronto.

Broken Social Scene’s ‘Hug of Thunder’ didn’t make the long list, nor did previous winners Godspeed You! Black Emperor for their latest album ‘Luciferian Towers.’

The prize is well-known for celebrating the work of new artists as well as more established ones. Last year, the winner went to Lido Pimienta for ‘La Papessa’ which won ahead of albums by Feist and Leonard Cohen.

Previous winners of the award include Arcade Fire, Feist, Kaytranada and Caribou. Arcade Fire won the award in 2011 for their acclaimed album, ‘The Suburbs.’